Being on a show with a female lead is amazing for me. I love that.
I think Miss Universe is wonderful platform that we promote diversity and women empowerment. Why? Because we are achieved women who have stories, who have passions, who have careers.
I know so many extraordinary women who I never get to see represented on screen, and that's shameful.
I grew up in a family of predominantly female bread winners who are strong and are fierce and opinionated. There's not enough women like that on the screen.
I think that still, for the most part, even in 2010, the vast majority of museum shows and gallery shows and gallerists are pretty much dominated by men. So having a sense of what women are up to, for me, frankly, is very, very important.
I'm enjoying being a woman on-screen.
French cinema allows women to look... a certain way and be talented at the same time.
We're showing kids a world that is very scantily populated with women and female characters. They should see female characters taking up half the planet, which we do.
Women remain dramatically under-represented as characters in film when compared to their representation in the U.S. population.
Hindsight is obviously a very great thing, but I'm always convinced that the reason that I didn't take as many politics or history classes is because I just didn't see any women. I didn't think when I was 13, 14 that that had anything to do with me. I just didn't see women in my textbooks.
I would love to keep playing roles where I get to inspire young women, and I get to uplift them and tell their stories and tell important stories that haven't been told.
It's really important for boys to see that girls take up half of the planet - which we do.
One of the many things I want to do is dig us out of that hole so that guys, in particular, can go: "Oh, yeah. Those people are really funny. I've seen that person. It's a woman. They are funny."
To not see black or Latina women as famous in my industry is crazy! I have to talk about it.
When I did the first 'Matrix,' after it came out, I had a woman come up to me and just thank me for Trinity because she was an action writer. She said she was getting really good opportunities now.
I think if women are visible in the media, truly visible, in an empowered role, it empowers us to be more visible in any area of our lives.
Sometimes it's more difficult to exist as a female lead, especially in action movies because all those men are around you. They take so much place.
Young girls need to see women who are strong and vulnerable and complex onscreen.
I think it's really important that women are represented in the media, and diverse women as well.
I just knew: first-time female on ESPN, there's going to be some backlash, like any change. There's always going to be resistance. There are going to be people that hear a female voice or see a female figure and are completely against it.
I get comments all the time on Twitter, and fan mail about how amazing it is to see me play Iris West: a strong woman. It's not really about her being black; she just happens to be black.
I came out to be on television as a person, as a woman. And this can be a great thing for my community.
The shows which have strong female characters are long overdue. I think there should be more and I am glad to see that there are more. There are fantastic female and diverse actors all around the world. I am glad to see that they are getting more recognition and being pushed into light more and more.
For me, it's important to be the representation that I wanted when I was a young girl.
I want women on-screen that we all either want to be, or we know, or we recognize.
